Andrea Vaughan Cowes RNLI Trainee.
Trainee crew member Andrea Vaughan achieved a milestone twice-over this Cowes Week, when she was on Cowes lifeboat when it dealt with two different emergencies during the regatta.
“Although I have been a trainee since last December these are the first occasions I have been on the boat when it was involved in ‘shouts’,” said Andrea, a mother of three, and one of several female crew members attached to the station.
The most important of the emergencies occurred when the lifeboat was directed to a 40 foot Sunsail yacht which reported that a 55 year old crewman had received a head injury. He had been struck by the spinnaker pole off Ryde while the yacht was competing in a Cowes Week race.
Emergency on Sunsail Yacht. Image: Michael Croxson
Solent Coastguards asked Cowes lifeboat to attend as it happened to be afloat at the time. The lifeboat, helmed by Scott Armiger, came alongside the yacht as it was racing back towards Cowes.
Andrea went aboard and put her First Aid expertise to work by applying a bandage to the crewman’s head. The injured man, who had never lost consciousness, was then trans-ferred to the lifeboat, accompanied by Andrea and another man on board.
By the time the transfer occurred the yacht was off Osborne Bay, and it took only a few minutes before the lifeboat was able to land the man at Trinity Landing, Cowes, where NHS paramedics were waiting to give him a thorough examination.
Andrea’s other ‘shout’ involved a 22 foot Redwing, part of the Redwing fleet from Bem-bridge taking part in Cowes Week race on Tuesday. It suffered a broken forestay while being sailed by two men and a woman, east of Calshot.
Lifeboat helm Steve Price treated the incident with some urgency in view of the fact the boat was in the main shipping lane.
The Redwing was taken in tow and brought back to Cowes, with Steve having the challenging task of ensuring there was no mishap with the many other regatta entrants on the water.
Action Image: Michael Croxson.
This article has been read 596 times!
